Amit Shah vs Rahul Gandhi Debate: There was a heated argument between Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha regarding irregularities in SIR and voter list. The Union Home Minister termed the allegations as baseless and said that SIR is the responsibility of the Election Commission, the opposition is making the issue.
SIR Debate in Lok Sabha: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in the voter list and said that these claims are baseless. There was a vigorous debate in the Lok Sabha on the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) in many states. During this, Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah were seen face to face. Amit Shah said that the opposition, especially the Congress, is spreading confusion by spreading lies on this role-revision process. Shah said that the Election Commission has already clarified in this matter. Shah said that Rahul Gandhi exaggerated this in the press conference on November 5. He reminded that the opposition leader had said that he had ‘dropped an atomic bomb’ and claimed that 501 votes were recorded in a single house in Haryana.
Debate on SIR in Parliament is not right – Home Minister
Amit Shah said this is not a subject of Parliament, as SIR is the responsibility of the Election Commission and the Commission is not answerable to the government. He said that the opposition is misleading the public and making it a political issue. Shah also hit back at Rahul Gandhi’s allegations in the Lok Sabha. He said that having 501 votes in a house in Haryana is not a problem. The Election Commission clarified that this house is big and three generations of people live there, hence no fake votes or irregularities took place.
19 lakh fake votes in Haryana- Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi countered Amit Shah’s arguments by claiming that there are 19 lakh fake votes in Haryana. He said, ‘The government gave only one example, but there are many more cases. Let’s debate this at the press conference. Gandhi also raised the issue of wrong age being recorded for a 124-year-old woman in Bihar. Amit Shah clarified that it was just a data entry mistake that the woman had made while filling the online form.
SIR process also happened during the time of Nehru and Indira Gandhi – Amit Shah
Amit Shah told Parliament that the first SIR process took place in 1952 under the rule of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He said that thereafter the SIR process also took place under several Congress governments, such as in 1957, 1961, 1965-66 and 1983-84. At present the Election Commission is fulfilling its constitutional responsibility.
Allegations and counter-allegations regarding Vande Mataram also
There was also a debate on Vande Mataram in Parliament on Wednesday. The opposition accused BJP leaders of breaking history. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the purpose of the debate was first to defame Prime Minister Nehru. There was a stir in the Rajya Sabha too, when Union Minister JP Nadda accused Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge of hijacking the debate by inserting issues like foreign policy and economy.
Government is not afraid of debate- Amit Shah
Taking aim at the opposition, Amit Shah said that the BJP and NDA governments never step back from debate. He said that the opposition is trying to show that the government is not ready for debate, but this is not true.